Please read About Families before using any of the information on this page.
William Yeo was baptised at Bradworthy in 1798 to parents Benjamin Yeo and Mary Wade. His family has been extensively studied, by Cecil Collacott, Humphrey Toms and Reg Walter, Martyn Yeo, Mary Elizabeth Jessie Yeo, and by several of Sheila Yeo’s correspondents.
William married Mary Routley at Sutcombe in 1824. He farmed at Bradworthy, where he and Mary had six children:
– Ann Yeo (1825–1866, married Richard Hodge Beckly)
– Grace Yeo (1826–1892, married Richard Fulford)
– Sophia Yeo (1829–1905, married Stephen Nosworthy)
– William Yeo
– Benjamin Yeo (1833–1887).
They moved to Henscott in the nearby parish of Bradford, and had eight further children:
– Thomas Yeo
– Mary Jane Yeo (1837–1908, married Robert Harris)
– Elizabeth Yeo (1839–1905, married Robert Daniel)
– John Yeo
– Barnabas Yeo (see below)
– Matthew Yeo (1846–1923)
– Emma Nora Yeo (1847–1891, married Samuel Trible)
– unnamed daughter (born 1848, died as an infant).
William died in 1872 and Mary survived him by 11 years. An extra daughter Jane Leonora Yeo has incorrectly been assigned to their family by some researchers.
Barnabas Yeo (1844–1907, son of William Yeo and Mary Routley) married Sarah James Edmonds [note 1]. They had nine children; their eldest daughter was born at Marhamchurch:
– Mary Ellen Yeo (1866–1962, married William Henry May).
Their next four children were born at Poughill (Cornwall):
– William Edmonds Yeo (see below)
– John Yeo (see below)
– Thomas Owen Yeo (see below)
– Laura Yeo (1873–1950, married Charles Shepherd 1909) [note 2]
followed by four further children after they moved to Woodknowle at Marhamchurch:
– Samuel Norman Yeo (1875–1880)
– Amelia Yeo (1878–1958)
– Emily Hetty Yeo (1881–1963)
– Matthew Herbert Yeo (1885–1967, married Maud Jones and Esther Jane Mansell [note 3], four children from first marriage).
William Edmonds Yeo (1868–1949, son of Barnabas Yeo and Sarah James Edmonds) was known in the family as Bill. He emigrated to Queensland in 1888, where he married Louise Heinemann [note 4] in 1896; they had nine children:
– Alfred William Yeo (1897–1930)
– Walter Henry Yeo (1898–1974, married Grace Lilian Langdon, three children)
– Winifred Annie Yeo (1900–1930, married Patrick James Lindsay)
– Harold Wilmot Yeo (1902–1977)
– Wilfred Edmonds Yeo (1904–1985, married Lorna Frances Davies, two children)
– Hilda Louise Yeo (1905–1989, married Alexander John MacLennan)
– Herbert Edward Yeo (1907–1908)
– James Alexander Yeo (1909–1980)
– Emily Yeo (1910–1986, married Jack Sainsbury McKell).
John Yeo (1869–1935 [note 5], son of Barnabas Yeo and Sarah James Edmonds), married Mary Jane Hotten [note 6] at Toowong in 1897. They had four children:
– Mary Yeo (1898–1898)
– Ivy Yeo (1900–1979, married Frederick Warwick)
– Gordon Yeo (1902–1972, married Jessie McLaren Page)
– Dudley Barton Yeo (see below).
Thomas Owen Yeo (1871–1935, son of Barnabas Yeo and Sarah James Edmonds) was known in the family as Tom. He married Lucy Boles [note 7] at Chilsworthy in 1901, and initially farmed at Pyworthy, eventually taking over from his father-in-law James Boles. He and Lucy had five children before Lucy’s death in 1915:
– Owen Boles Yeo (1902–1902)
– Minnie Yeo (1904–1960, married John Richard Boles 1934)
– Nora Boles Yeo (1907–1990, married Daniel Campbell Kay 1934) [note 8]
– Stanley James Yeo (1910–1975, married Winifred Martyn Bassett 1944, one daughter)
– Florence Mary Lucy Yeo (1914–1999 [note 9], married Alfred James Bush 1946).
Tom bought a farm at Holsworthy in 1921, and re-married the following year. He and his second wife Dorothy Emily McKenzie Clelland [note 10] had a son:
– Owen McKenzie Yeo (1928–2021, married Madge Crossman 1952, one son).
Dudley Barton Yeo (1904–1998, son of John Yeo and Mary Jane Hotten née Heard) married Christina Rymer May Page in 1932. They had five children, including:
– Beryl Yeo (1933–1933)
– Edwin John Yeo (1934–2013, five children).
Please Contact Us if you can add to or correct the information shown.
Notes
1. 1847–1913, often recorded inaccurately as Sarah Jane Edmonds. James was the birth surname of her mother Ellen James.
2. Laura had a son John Yeo (1900–1974), who served in the Royal Navy and later emigrated to Western Australia. John married Florence Mary Shaw at Fremantle in 1928. They had five children, including Eric John Yeo (1929–1930) and Vena Delicia Yeo (1936–1990, died in Vancouver).
3. 1884–1972, née Martin, widow of Thomas Cyril Mansell.
4. 1875–1927, also recorded as Louisa. Born in Queensland to Prussian emigrants Edward Heinemann and Friedricke Dittmann.
5. John was known in the family as Jack. He emigrated to Queensland in 1894/5 (see Emigration diaries and stories), stayed initially with his brother Bill at Redland Bay, and then took a job as a gardener at Indooroopilly. He was able to buy a plot of land near Peachester, where he established a dairy farm.
6. 1865–1930, née Heard, widow of James Hotten, with whom she emigrated from Cornwall in 1886.
7. 1874–1915, daughter of James Boles and Grace Trewin and a second cousin to Tom through James’s mother Elizabeth Routley.
8. Married in Persia at the British Vice-Consulate at Mohammerah. Nora was working in Persia as a nanny; Daniel (known as Danny) was working there in the oil industry. Mohammerah is now known as Khorramshahr.
9. Known as Flossie; died at Ilfracombe.
10. 1896–1972, born in London to parents Robert Albert McKenzie Clelland and Emily Jane Thomas.